Doris Stokes

Speaker 10:00

Hello, I'm Kirstie Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Disc's Archive. For rights reasons we've had to shorten the music. The programme was originally broadcast in nineteen eighty five, and the presenter was Roy Plumley.

Presenter0:30

This week, our castaway is the celebrated medium.

Presenter0:33

DORRIS Stokes.

Presenter0:35

Doris, how would you look on a a a break from your very busy life? Have you ever imagined yourself as a desert island castaway?

Doris Stokes0:42

Oh, very frequently, I think. Wouldn't it be lovely to be away all on my own?

Doris Stokes0:47

If only I could just go away on the desert, I'd said it, where no telephones, nobody's knocking at the door.

Presenter0:51

Yeah, it's not

Presenter0:53

And just eight discs to make it a little better. Is music important to you?

Doris Stokes0:57

Yes it is, I I can't sing and open, I dorm music.

Presenter1:00

Do you play an instrument?

Doris Stokes1:02

No, I'm going to do that when I get to the spirit world. I'd love to make music.

Presenter1:06

Uh-huh.

Doris Stokes1:07

No, I'm going to learn to play the piano. I think that's big enough for me. I don't think I can master the harp even.

Presenter1:09

That's

Presenter1:12

On the other side. Did you find it hard to choose your list of eight records?

Doris Stokes1:17

Yes, very, because there's so much.

Doris Stokes1:20

that I enjoy all types of music. I'm not a high bar, though. I enjoy bombs and that sort of thing, but I don't know enough about it. I know what I like.

Doris Stokes1:30

But I go for the words.

Presenter1:32

What

Doris Stokes1:32

Uh

Presenter1:32

What are you going to start with?

Doris Stokes1:33

Lean in my towels one day at a time, sweet Jesus.

Doris Stokes1:37

Because that sums up the way I have to live these days.

Doris Stokes1:41

And every word, I think, is so applicable to every one of us.

Doris Stokes1:45

You know, just asking for strength to get through the day.

Doris Stokes1:48

I know the staircase I've got to climb like Lena Martell.

Doris Stokes1:52

And all I pray is for strength to get on and do it.

Speaker 11:56

Yeah.

Speaker 31:56

One day

Speaker 31:59

I'm sweet Jesus

Speaker 32:06

Uh

Speaker 12:06

I'm only human.

Speaker 12:11

I'm just a woman.

Speaker 32:15

Help me believe what I could be and all that I am.

Presenter2:28

Lena Martel

Presenter2:29

One day at a time, sweet Jesus.

Presenter2:32

Doris, what part of the country do you come from?

Doris Stokes2:34

I was born in Lincolnshire, around the corner from Margaret Hilda Roberts.

Presenter2:38

Mrs. Thatcher. Yes.

Doris Stokes2:40

Yesterday, and just recently I was asked to stand in because she'd promised to go and do a broadcast with a hospital.

Doris Stokes2:45

And she couldn't make it, so they asked Doris as the next famous daughter. They think a great deal of me back in Grantham, bless their hearts.

Presenter2:50

The thinker goes.

Presenter2:52

I'm sure they do.

Doris Stokes2:54

Yes, I know Margaret very well. Maggie.

Presenter2:56

Mm-hmm.

Doris Stokes2:56

We used to go to her father's for a halfpenny worth of broken biscuits on Monday morning. And if you had the halfpenny you got your biscuits. If you hadn't you didn't get any.

Doris Stokes3:05

Who's going to hate me to go and listen to him preach on Sunday nights?

Presenter3:10

You'll grew up to a fair amount of hardship.

Doris Stokes3:12

Yes, I did. We're very poor. My father was gassed in the First World War.

Presenter3:14

We would

Presenter3:16

Were you an only child?

Doris Stokes3:17

Now I have a half sister who is now electorate in Canada.

Presenter3:21

Your father had gipsy blood only.

Doris Stokes3:23

It was a romantic, yes.

Presenter3:23

Bears.

Presenter3:24

What did he do?

Doris Stokes3:25

It was a blacksmith up till I was about six, I should think.

Doris Stokes3:29

And he gave us a very good life up there. My sister had piano lessons, and then suddenly when I was six and things should have started to happen, my father had to stop work because of the gas on his chest. He went back when I was only thirteen.

Presenter3:44

Quite early in life you had your first intimation of

Presenter3:48

Supernatural powers. Do you remember that first occasion?

Doris Stokes3:52

Oh, absolutely. I remember my mother's belt across my bottom, too.

Presenter3:57

John Mithers do it.

Doris Stokes3:58

I've been extremely ill with rheumatic fever.

Doris Stokes4:01

And I had impatigo and shingles all at the same time, but I recovered. But for a long time I used to have to sit in a push chair, I couldn't walk. And they used to push me out what we call the gardens. Well, looking back now, it was just a a path that led up to the railway and allotments I decided it must have been very dusty and sooty, because there were steam trains of course.

Doris Stokes4:23

But mother used to push me up there to get the air.

Doris Stokes4:27

And uh I used to sit there, you know, watching the butterflies and things and mum used to go away and leave me and then suddenly one day these children arrived and I accepted it without question. I was only sick.

Presenter4:38

These were your your secret rooms.

Doris Stokes4:40

Pansy and Christopher. I can't remember the other little boy's name, and he's never told me it, and it never occurred to me that nobody could see them until my mum's next door neighbour.

Doris Stokes4:52

Mrs. Lash and I must

Doris Stokes4:53

was going past the path to go shopping and she says, Hello, Polly, out'cause everybody called me Polly. Hello, Polly, how are you this morning?

Doris Stokes5:03

And I was just gonna say.

Doris Stokes5:04

This is Christopher, and this is Pansy. Look, I've got a little black girl, and she looks straight through them.

Speaker 35:10

Yeah.

Doris Stokes5:11

and something made me not say anything, but I went home full of excitement to my mother and told her these voices talk to me and I got the stir.

Doris Stokes5:20

So I soon learned to keep quiet about it. These were spirit children. Yeah, but at four I must have only been four I saw him Carry Tom Toon his name was.

Doris Stokes5:29

He was burnt to death.

Presenter5:31

Where?

Doris Stokes5:31

around the corner where we live.

Presenter5:33

Hmm.

Doris Stokes5:33

And I was in bed with my sister, and I heard my father say, Oh, Jen, there's a fire round at Tom's, and the rust of clothes, and away they went, and I was a very nosy child.

Doris Stokes5:43

So I got out of bed and I must have been very small because I had to stand on a

Doris Stokes5:48

Chair. I remember vividly getting my knee onto the chair and then standing up to get a coat put on over my nightie.

Doris Stokes5:55

And then I got the stool and stood on the stool to lift the snack up on the door to get out. We didn't have knobs, we had snacks in Lincolnshire.

Doris Stokes6:03

Went round the corner and they were all crying and they were bringing this black thing out and Tom was walking at the side. Bringing this black

Presenter6:10

Black thing

Doris Stokes6:10

Yeah, on a stretcher, the body all burnt.

Presenter6:10

Yeah, I'm a

Doris Stokes6:13

and Tom was walking by the side of it.

Presenter6:16

And this was Tom's body on the stretcher.

Doris Stokes6:17

Yeah, and he was walking by the side. And I said, what is everybody crying for?

Doris Stokes6:23

And my father town is home and I got a box across the air because I'd got out of bed.

Presenter6:27

Were you worried and frightened at these strange

Doris Stokes6:31

Now as a child you accept with a childlike faith.

Presenter6:35

That's Have Your Second Record, was that?

Doris Stokes6:37

Jim moves in I Love You Because.

Doris Stokes6:40

And this is one I would choose because of my husband, John.

Doris Stokes6:44

whom I only knew a week. We've been together forty one years.

Doris Stokes6:48

And no matter what people have said about me

Doris Stokes6:52

John's always there.

Doris Stokes6:54

Doesn't matter where I go, John goes. He sits for hours.

Doris Stokes6:57

waiting for me to do things and he's there.

Presenter6:59

Yeah. Comfort

Doris Stokes7:01

And it is comforting, and I love him for that.

Doris Stokes7:05

God was good when we met.

Doris Stokes7:07

Half past eight on a Saturday night fell over his feet in a pub I was in the Air Force, he was in the Paratroopers, and got married the next Saturday afternoon at three by special license.

Doris Stokes7:17

And apart from the time he's been at Arnhem, he was prisoner of war.

Doris Stokes7:22

And the time he was at Stoutmanderville Hospital and the times I've been in hospital would never been apart.

Presenter7:28

Yes.

Doris Stokes7:28

And that's something in this day and age right.

Presenter7:31

I love

Presenter7:33

Because you understand it.

Presenter7:40

Every

Speaker 37:41

Every single thing I try to do

Presenter7:49

You're always there to live.

Speaker 37:51

In the helping hand.

Presenter7:57

I love you most of all

Presenter8:01

Those you

Presenter8:03

I Love You Because Jim Reeves.

Presenter8:06

Doris, we jumped ahead a bit. Let's go back for a bit to your childhood. You had the misfortune to lose your father.

Presenter8:14

But that didn't mean that you didn't see him any more.

Doris Stokes8:17

Oh, no, no, my father knew you see he was going to die, as I called it then.

Doris Stokes8:22

And um he called me in the school playground.

Doris Stokes8:26

And I didn't hesitate. I went and got my coat and went to the hospital'cause children weren't allowed in at that time.

Doris Stokes8:32

But nobody stopped me, and my father said

Doris Stokes8:35

look after your mother and I said, Be all right, daddy, when you come home He said, I'm not coming home any more, child.

Doris Stokes8:41

But I want you to know that you've only got to put your hand out, and I'll always be there.

Doris Stokes8:45

And I thought he was delirious. I thought, how can he put his hand out if he's dead?

Doris Stokes8:50

But my dad knew what he was talking about.

Doris Stokes8:53

I never saw him again until

Doris Stokes8:55

John was missing at Harnam.

Presenter8:56

Dear husband

Doris Stokes8:57

Yes.

Doris Stokes8:58

I had a letter to say it was it was missing.

Doris Stokes9:01

Then Ahandalat Se died of his wounds.

Doris Stokes9:04

And they'd let me know the number of the grave and

Doris Stokes9:06

Then I had this beautiful voice.

Doris Stokes9:10

It's the first time I heard my guide's voice.

Doris Stokes9:12

filled the room, and it said.

Doris Stokes9:14

Chad, I've come to tell you, your husband is not with us.

Doris Stokes9:18

And on Christ's birthday, he'll have proof of this. I thought I'm going round the twist. And I'd just come out of the Air Force, you know, I'd been an Air Force girl, and I thought, I'm going round the twist.

Speaker 39:22

Yeah.

Speaker 19:22

Uh

Doris Stokes9:27

That's all my baby wants, and no father than a mental mother.

Doris Stokes9:31

And then the door opened, and my father walked in, as solid as you are.

Doris Stokes9:36

And he said, Doll, and I said that.

Doris Stokes9:39

He said, I've come to tell you Johnny's not with us.

Doris Stokes9:42

And on Christmas Day you'll have proof of this. And he disappeared.

Doris Stokes9:46

I wasn't frightened. What amazed me was how did he know I'd married a man called John?

Doris Stokes9:53

And on Christmas Day there was the letter.

Doris Stokes9:56

And then the second time he came was when my baby was going back and the Spirit Voice told me about that.

Presenter10:02

Oh, baby was going to die.

Doris Stokes10:03

At Bathingham the voice came again and it said

Doris Stokes10:07

He has to come back. He's done his time on earth. And I thought, God, they're talking about my baby. They can't mean my baby.

Doris Stokes10:14

Boy, it's the longest three weeks of my life. I sold clothes and furniture to pay for asbestos. I chased all over the country with my baby.

Doris Stokes10:24

Nothing the matter with him. Perfect, baby.

Doris Stokes10:27

And my father came back and he said,

Doris Stokes10:29

Won't do you no daws.

Doris Stokes10:31

It won't do, darl. He said I will call and collect him at quarter to three on Friday.

Doris Stokes10:36

And don't worry, you'll be safe with me.

Doris Stokes10:38

And on Wednesday my baby was taken into hospital and at quarter to three.

Doris Stokes10:42

On Friday before God, I handed my baby to my father.

Doris Stokes10:47

And um

Doris Stokes10:48

I have not seen my father since.

Doris Stokes10:51

Well, I've seen him since when I had an Asto.

Doris Stokes10:54

I was privileged to go over for a quick peep into this bit well, and I saw my son grown up.

Presenter10:59

Really?

Doris Stokes11:00

And I kept looking at thinking, That handsome man he's my son that is, he's my son.

Presenter11:05

This sounds like a very great privilege, Doris Howard.

Doris Stokes11:08

Oh, it was.

Doris Stokes11:09

Where

Doris Stokes11:10

They asked me to write about the spirit world in one of my books, and I thought, well, I can interpret what they tell me, but how much better if they would let me go and see

Doris Stokes11:20

So for five nights

Doris Stokes11:23

I put the light I read in bed at night, you see, but for five nights I put the light out and closed my eyes and asked if I could go to spirit. Well, of course nothing happened.

Doris Stokes11:34

So I thought, who am I to ask, you know?

Doris Stokes11:38

So on the Saturday night I was reading my book.

Doris Stokes11:42

and I'd I'd forgotten all about it, and suddenly two eyes appeared above the book.

Doris Stokes11:47

My son has violet eyes, real violet, John Michael.

Presenter11:51

Yeah.

Doris Stokes11:52

And these two eyes came and thought violet eyes, John Michael had violet eyes.

Doris Stokes11:57

And he said, You've expressed a wish to visit his mother. I've come to take you.

Doris Stokes12:01

And by God Roy I went.

Doris Stokes12:04

I saw the little aborted babies waiting to be born into Spirit World.

Doris Stokes12:09

I saw the nurses for the children.

Doris Stokes12:11

I saw the hospitals for the sick.

Doris Stokes12:14

full of beautiful light and music and healing.

Doris Stokes12:17

I saw my mum and dad. My mother only had one eye, she had two eyes.

Doris Stokes12:22

My father was young and not coughing and

Doris Stokes12:25

She fell down to Wasn't.

Doris Stokes12:28

And my son above all, and the three children I'd lost I was introduced to.

Doris Stokes12:33

I had a fallopian pregnancy in which I nearly died.

Doris Stokes12:36

Then I had a stillborn baby girl.

Doris Stokes12:39

And then I carried another baby four and a half months. Yeah.

Doris Stokes12:43

And I felt guilty because I

Doris Stokes12:45

Couldn't feel the same love for them as I felt for John Michael.

Doris Stokes12:49

And Mephal said, Don't worry about it, girl. When you come over here, the love link is eternal. The love will be there. You never knew them, you see.

Doris Stokes12:56

So that's true that

Doris Stokes12:58

You can't die for the life of you. That's the the punchline. No good hanging one on and then saying, Oh God, I wish I were dead. It's an impossibility.

Presenter13:07

An experience like that.

Presenter13:09

Shows the reason for your your calm.

Doris Stokes13:11

Absolutely, because I've got that inner serenity. And I I mean, it hasn't been an easy life.

Doris Stokes13:17

I've had cancer. Mine has so many parts, as Dick Emery said. They want you over the other side, Dos. You've too much work to do, so they're taking you over bit by bit.

Doris Stokes13:27

Dear Dick Henry, he was a lovely man.

Presenter13:30

Let's have another record.

Doris Stokes13:32

Cass Stevens.

Doris Stokes13:34

Morning is broken.'Cause I think if only we could get that feeling, you know, that when we wake up in the morning and

Doris Stokes13:41

Thank God for being alive.

Doris Stokes13:44

The world'll be a lot better place.

Doris Stokes13:47

Suddenly the sun will come out and streams into the window, and I find myself thinking

Doris Stokes13:52

Oh, God, Dorothy, it's good to be alive.

Doris Stokes13:55

You might only have one boob, and you've got a bad back, but dear God, it's good to be alive.

Speaker 314:03

Hands broke.

Speaker 314:05

Okay.

Speaker 314:06

Like the first morning.

Speaker 314:10

But has spoken like the first bird

Speaker 314:18

Praise for the scene, praise for the morning.

Speaker 314:26

Pray for them spring.

Speaker 314:30

Fresh from the wild

Presenter14:33

Kat Stephen singing Morning Has Broken

Presenter14:36

Doris, you decided to use your gifts and become a medium.

Doris Stokes14:41

How does one train? No, I didn't decide. God decided. God decided. Yes. I didn't want to be a medium nerve. I tried to get rid of it many times.

Doris Stokes14:51

It's a frightening responsibility.

Doris Stokes14:53

Because you've got to remember when you're doing a sitting or when you're doing a public appearance.

Doris Stokes14:58

That person you told me is believing every word you say. So it's a big responsibility.

Presenter15:05

Most mediums have a a spirit guide. Will you tell us about yours?

Doris Stokes15:10

Well Ramanoff, my house is called after him. Ramanoff. Ramanoff. It's the nearest I can get is Tibetan, and I can never pronounce it properly. So I call him Ramanov.

Doris Stokes15:20

But for years I didn't know who he was.

Doris Stokes15:24

and just knew that he was there.

Doris Stokes15:27

I was watching

Doris Stokes15:28

Television one night.

Doris Stokes15:31

And Terry was in London. We lived in Lancaster and was waiting for a telephone call from him. Terry's our adopted son.

Doris Stokes15:39

And uh we'd got the set turned down and it was BBC One and and they flashed a trader on that was going to be on BBC Two.

Doris Stokes15:46

And it said Tibet, the table of the world.

Doris Stokes15:49

And Ramanov's voice came and he said, You've been wondering where I came from. That is my homeland.

Doris Stokes15:54

And that's how I found out he was from Tibet.

Presenter15:57

Another record, please.

Doris Stokes16:00

I would like to have with me Mother Kelly's Doorstep by Danny LaRue.

Doris Stokes16:05

And every time I hear this record,

Doris Stokes16:08

I see, Danny. I remember that lovely warm feeling that after he had done a show at Birmingham.

Doris Stokes16:15

and he threw people out of his dressing room and rushed round to my theatre.

Doris Stokes16:20

and came on stage.

Doris Stokes16:22

and helped me hand out the flowers to the people in the audience. And then they switched the mics on and he put his arm round me and my voice is dreadful, but we sang Mother the Kelly's doorstep.

Doris Stokes16:32

And you know Roy, the bigger the star.

Doris Stokes16:34

The lovely there.

Doris Stokes16:36

Mother Kelly's was dead I'm wondering now

Doris Stokes16:44

If my Uh

Presenter16:45

My little girl, Nelly.

Doris Stokes16:49

Mapping

Presenter16:49

Let's go!

Doris Stokes16:51

Her boy and does she, does she love me like she?

Presenter16:59

To on Father Kelly's Gorst Fair down Paradise Road.

Presenter17:10

Danny LaRue.

Presenter17:11

You mentioned just now, Doris, your theatre work.

Presenter17:15

And you do give big seances in theatres and enormous halls in a number of countries.

Presenter17:24

Now people in large numbers are coming on the stage with you from the other side. They can't be seen, they can't be heard except by you. Will you describe what happens?

Doris Stokes17:36

It's like a telephone exchange gone mad sometimes. And if they don't stay on what I call the light, when I look up it's like um

Doris Stokes17:46

You know when when it's going to rain and the sun goes behind a cloud, you see streaks, broad beams of light coming down.

Speaker 117:52

Yeah.

Doris Stokes17:52

That's what I see.

Doris Stokes17:54

With my third eye. And I know instinctively that that spirit person's got stand on that light for me to hear them.

Doris Stokes18:03

And sometimes I can get a a direct line and clear, but if it's the first time they've done it, they go to talk if I was talking to you, Roy.

Presenter18:11

Yeah.

Doris Stokes18:12

uh and giving you a communication somebody, they would hear your voice and they'd come to talk to you, to say, Well, if she can hear us, so can Roy And then I lose them, you see, and somebody else pops in.

Presenter18:23

Really what they're giving is a kind of general reassurance that they are well and happy on the other side.

Doris Stokes18:27

We are well

Doris Stokes18:28

And giving us that assurance that God has promised us, that Jesus promised us, Jesus came back from the dead.

Doris Stokes18:36

He was crucified, and he appeared to Mary.

Doris Stokes18:39

It peered to doubt in Thomas, and Jesus said to us,

Doris Stokes18:42

Everything is possible if only it is done in my father's name.

Doris Stokes18:47

And he said, I will show you the way, and show you the way he did. And I will say, What's good enough for Jesus Christ, good enough for Doris Stokes?

Presenter18:55

Another record, please.

Doris Stokes18:56

Fedistar

Doris Stokes18:58

I've only met him recently.

Doris Stokes19:02

And he rang me up and said he would like to come and see me and uh

Doris Stokes19:06

Ever since then when he is on the phone, he sings to me

Doris Stokes19:10

I've I told you lately that I love you.

Doris Stokes19:13

And he said, You better believe that and he said, I really love you, darling.

Doris Stokes19:17

And I think that would give me a warm go because he's such a warm and loving person.

Doris Stokes19:22

And he's got so much to give.

Doris Stokes19:25

And that's something for an old lady of seven sixty five.

Doris Stokes19:29

Now I go.

Doris Stokes19:32

You laid it

Doris Stokes19:34

Uh

Presenter19:34

But I would

Doris Stokes19:35

Uh

Presenter19:37

Kill a Hawaii toe

Speaker 319:40

You laid me

Speaker 319:42

But I care.

Presenter19:46

I love you. Oh my darling.

Presenter19:54

Well darling

Presenter19:56

I am Ted.

Presenter19:59

Freddie Starr

Presenter20:01

We were talking about big meetings in big theatres. You also give private seance, don't we, if somebody is in trouble or

Doris Stokes20:10

Private sitting

Presenter20:11

A private city

Doris Stokes20:12

Some posh mediums have consultation. If you come to Darwin Stoach, you get a cup of tea in a private sitting.

Presenter20:12

Uh

Presenter20:16

A private city.

Doris Stokes20:17

And what that means is private, confidential. And if I'm going to use it for the books or anything like that, I always ask them if they any objections to me using

Presenter20:29

Yeah.

Doris Stokes20:29

Any of the quotes?

Presenter20:31

But that means that you're trying to quiet down this.

Presenter20:34

Mob of

Presenter20:35

Friendly inquiring people you have at your side and just trying to find one.

Doris Stokes20:40

No, I just get their family. If it's a one-to-one situation, then you don't get anybody else in. Just their.

Presenter20:43

Yeah, just

Doris Stokes20:46

family and the answers to their questions.

Presenter20:50

How clear an impression do you get with these people? You don't see them. I believe you see lights.

Doris Stokes20:55

Yeah, and I see spirit children. Do you? Oh yes, I can describe the children.

Doris Stokes21:00

even to the dummy in the mouth and the teddy bear.

Doris Stokes21:04

They bring back what's been put in the coffin with them.

Doris Stokes21:08

But I I just see a light over his shoulder.

Doris Stokes21:11

And the smaller the light, the less time they've been over.

Doris Stokes21:15

If the light comes and goes out again that means it's under the year.

Doris Stokes21:19

If the light remains steady and it's still very small, then I can safely say that they haven't had the second anniversary.

Presenter21:25

Yes.

Doris Stokes21:26

The longer the binover, the larger the light.

Presenter21:29

Have you been interested in in in more conventional religion? Do you go to church?

Doris Stokes21:32

I was baptized and confirmed Church of England.

Doris Stokes21:36

But when my baby passed over,

Doris Stokes21:38

It was not a bit o' good that young Vicar putting his arm around me and saying, God's will be done.

Doris Stokes21:43

I just seen my baby go down into a hole six feet deep with ice all round it.

Doris Stokes21:48

There was no God to me. I couldn't understand a godlike. I didn't want to know.

Doris Stokes21:53

But when I was young I went to various I used to go as a Methodist, I tried everything, I think. I was always seeking something.

Doris Stokes22:00

Now I've got a philosophy.

Doris Stokes22:02

That suits me.

Doris Stokes22:04

I am personally responsible, nobody else. I have got to account. I can either go over bankrupt or I can have a spiritual bank book waiting.

Doris Stokes22:14

We believe in the fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, and personal responsibility.

Doris Stokes22:19

I can't commit a sin today and then go to a priest tomorrow and say, Father, forgive me.

Doris Stokes22:25

Because he's just a man.

Doris Stokes22:27

Like you are.

Doris Stokes22:29

God is the only one that can forgive me, and I've got to pay that debt, either this side or that side.

Doris Stokes22:34

Doesn't matter.

Presenter22:36

Another echo.

Doris Stokes22:37

I know there's no death.

Doris Stokes22:39

so that when my end comes, when I've finished my earthly cycle,

Doris Stokes22:44

I'm going to be cremated.

Doris Stokes22:46

And I don't any abide with me or any dreary hymns.

Doris Stokes22:51

And want Jim Moves to sing. May the good Lord bless and keep you.

Doris Stokes22:55

Because I shall be all right. I'll be away with my loved ones on the other side. It'll be those that I've left behind that'll need the comfort.

Doris Stokes23:03

And this record says everything that I'd want to say.

Presenter23:07

May the good Lord bless and keep you.

Presenter23:14

Whether near or far away

Presenter23:20

May you find that long awaited

Presenter23:25

Golden day today

Presenter23:31

May your troubles all be small ones.

Presenter23:36

And your fortune

Presenter23:38

Jim Reeves, may the good Lord bless and keep you.

Presenter23:42

You've been able to help the police with your powers, haven't you, at various times?

Doris Stokes23:47

Well, I hope I've helped them. Please do come to me.

Doris Stokes23:51

But of course a lot of it's not made public because they ask for no publicity and if they ask that then I respect their wishes.

Doris Stokes23:58

I mean, um, I've had the security men come to check out my place and the security man outside the door.

Doris Stokes24:04

But wild horses wouldn't drag from me who came to see me because that is confidential.

Doris Stokes24:10

Yes, uh the only thing I regret about that, when the Jack the Ripper case was going on, I went to do a sitting.

Doris Stokes24:17

For Janie MacDonald's mother.

Presenter24:19

She was one of the victims.

Doris Stokes24:20

Yeah, she was the youngest one with Janey.

Doris Stokes24:24

And um I said, Janie, can you give me anything? She said, Sutcliffe.

Doris Stokes24:28

Clear as a bell, and I said Sutcliffe.

Doris Stokes24:31

The mother said that was my maiden name, so I let it go.

Doris Stokes24:35

Otherwise we'd have probably saved two more lives.

Presenter24:39

That's a strange during.

Presenter24:42

You've taken your gifts to many countries, and you've written books.

Presenter24:46

and made records, and in the midst you preserved this astonishing calm. You must be one of the busiest women in England.

Doris Stokes24:52

Well, I just wish I didn't have so much mail.

Presenter24:55

Yeah. Uh

Doris Stokes24:55

But I mustn't grumble because it means that people like me, otherwise they wouldn't bother to write to me.

Doris Stokes25:03

So when I get a my head's aching and my fingers are sore slitting out the envelopes and I sort them all and I write on the back, Baby, Urgent.

Doris Stokes25:13

Child, urgent, please ring.

Doris Stokes25:15

And I have a lovely little secretary who's learning from me as she goes along.

Speaker 325:19

He goes a lot.

Speaker 125:19

Uh

Doris Stokes25:20

She would ring and say, Doris has read your letter.

Doris Stokes25:24

And she's so sorry about your child and as soon as possible

Doris Stokes25:28

We will, and if you'd like to always give you a quick call. And sometimes the case is so desperate

Doris Stokes25:34

I'll just wing up. I've got one to do tonight. Little girl's only fourteen.

Doris Stokes25:39

And she's lost her daddy and she's not written for herself, she's written for her mummy.

Speaker 125:39

Yeah.

Doris Stokes25:43

Says, Please, Doris, can you help my mummy? Because she doesn't talk to us any more.

Doris Stokes25:49

So tonight has to make that call and speak to the mother and hopefully get the husband back.

Doris Stokes25:55

and prove beyond any doubt that he is alive and close to them.

Presenter25:58

Well, that'll be a rewarding way to spend an evening.

Doris Stokes26:00

I hope so, ma'am.

Doris Stokes26:02

Phone bill's astronomical, but who cares?

Doris Stokes26:05

It's no good being the richest body in the cemetery, is it?

Doris Stokes26:09

As long as I don't owe the tax men anything.

Doris Stokes26:12

Yeah.

Presenter26:13

Uh

Presenter26:14

Record number seven.

Doris Stokes26:15

My way.

Doris Stokes26:16

Sung by Frank Sonata.

Presenter26:18

Why'd you choose it?

Doris Stokes26:19

Well, for years I tried to conform to what I think I should be, to suppress my mediumship, my psychic ability.

Doris Stokes26:27

And I thought I'd succeeded until I was in the Air Force.

Doris Stokes26:31

And one morning we were down at the dispersal. We'd got a big op coming off and we got all the press there from London and myself and a man driver down there.

Doris Stokes26:42

And it was dawn, you know, and uh I'd never been out at dawn sober in the Air Force.

Doris Stokes26:49

It was just beginning to get light, and the dawn chorus was just starting.

Doris Stokes26:53

And the trucks drew up and this boy got out.

Doris Stokes26:57

And he walked across towards the plain, and he was whistling, The Lord is my shepherd.

Doris Stokes27:03

and I suddenly started to cry.

Doris Stokes27:05

I filled up, it just felt as if I was roaring inside, and I knew beyond any doubt that that boy wasn't coming back.

Doris Stokes27:13

It was weird gunner and he climbed into the kite and taxied round. We put our thumbs up.

Doris Stokes27:18

And usually when you're on night duty you get the next day off and you have a bath and go to bed. But I couldn't settle.

Doris Stokes27:26

And I hung around the debriefing office. An officer came out and he said, Sans, how you doing? You know, you've been here for an hour and I said, Excuse me, sir, could you tell me to see for Charlie has come back?

Doris Stokes27:38

No, it hasn't, he says she pranged.

Doris Stokes27:41

I went into the bathroom and shut myself up, and it broke my heart.

Doris Stokes27:44

Frighten the life out of me.

Doris Stokes27:47

It wasn't just that I knew that the boy and the rest of the crew had been killed, but the fact that I knew

Doris Stokes27:54

And then I realized that it was something that was in me

Doris Stokes27:58

And the best thing I could do with it was to

Doris Stokes28:01

Try and use it sensibly.

Doris Stokes28:03

And that's when I decided to do it my way, not try to conform. And to this day I do it my way.

Doris Stokes28:09

I go out on the stage and I talk about God and I talk about life, but I do it in a light-hearted way because I'm not there to preach religion.

Doris Stokes28:19

But I still get over the message, what I want to say.

Doris Stokes28:23

And if God can say well done to us, old girl, then I know I've done it the right way.

Presenter28:28

Saw it through.

Presenter28:31

Without exemption.

Presenter28:35

I plan

Presenter28:38

Each chart a course.

Presenter28:41

Each capital step

Presenter28:44

Along the byway

Presenter28:48

More

Presenter28:50

Much more than this.

Presenter28:53

I did it.

Presenter28:59

Frank Sinatra.

Presenter29:01

Doris, we put you on this desert island a heartless thing to do. Well, the climate's all right, but there's not very much there a lot of sand, a few palm trees.

Presenter29:11

Could you look after yourself?

Doris Stokes29:12

Are you a pre

Presenter29:13

Tactical engine.

Doris Stokes29:13

Oh, I think so. I was in the go guys.

Presenter29:16

Yeah.

Doris Stokes29:16

And the wife.

Doris Stokes29:19

Yes, I'm the WAF, and believe me, you have to learn how to change wheels and service your car.

Presenter29:24

Yeah.

Doris Stokes29:24

I think I could turn my hand to anything really.

Presenter29:26

You could build a shelter.

Presenter29:29

Would you try to escape? Would you know which direction to point your craft in?

Doris Stokes29:32

No, no, I'd be absolutely hopeless, dear. I used to be a good navigator in the war. I had to be. There was no signpost.

Doris Stokes29:40

But I'm afraid I've been driven around so much now that I rely on other people.

Presenter29:45

Your last record.

Doris Stokes29:47

Well, I lost my first baby 40 years ago.

Doris Stokes29:52

And um

Doris Stokes29:54

It really broke me up, broke me apart.

Doris Stokes29:57

I was totally alone. Jong was an Arnhem boy and he was wounded there and he was a prisoner of war.

Doris Stokes30:03

And after my baby was tamed by the spirit well, I didn't know anything about it then. I knew I could talk to people. I didn't know anything about spiritualism or the philosophy. I honestly didn't.

Doris Stokes30:14

I used to go out and get drunk and try and

Doris Stokes30:17

Num it that way, but the minute I walked into the house and saw the empty pan in the cart, I was perfectly sober again.

Doris Stokes30:22

Then one night I heard this gentle voice

Doris Stokes30:25

Giving me a poem.

Doris Stokes30:27

and a great calm and a feeling of peace came over me.

Doris Stokes30:31

And I turned over and I fell into a deep sleep. The first time I'd ever gone to sleep out through the night and I slept all night and I woke in the morning and the it was still there in my head. I've never written it down, ever.

Doris Stokes30:46

And it brought me so much peace of mind and comfort, because instead of imagining my little baby being in a white box buried in the earth, I could see him playing in the spirit world.

Doris Stokes30:58

with lovely ladies looking after him.

Doris Stokes31:00

and angel toys to play with.

Doris Stokes31:03

So I hope the poem brings as much comfort to other parents with lost children as it's brought to me.

Presenter31:09

And you're reciting it yourself.

Doris Stokes31:13

In a baby castle.

Doris Stokes31:15

Just be on my eye.

Doris Stokes31:18

My baby plays with angel toys that money cannot buy.

Doris Stokes31:25

Who am I to wish him back?

Doris Stokes31:29

Enter this world of stone.

Doris Stokes31:32

No play-on, my baby.

Doris Stokes31:35

You have eternal life.

Doris Stokes31:38

At night when all is silent.

Presenter31:41

A poem from the other world.

Presenter31:44

If you could take just one disc out of the eight you've chosen, which would it be?

Doris Stokes31:49

One day at a time, sweet Jesus, because by God I need him.

Presenter31:53

And one luxury to take to the island with you.

Doris Stokes31:56

An album and photographs of all my family, my animals, all the friends I've made over the years.

Presenter32:04

And one book you already have the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare.

Doris Stokes32:09

Would that be enough for serious reading? I'd like something to make me laugh.

Doris Stokes32:12

and the Alavandi camp.

Presenter32:14

Handicapped.

Doris Stokes32:15

Yeah.

Presenter32:16

And thank you, Doris Stokes, for letting us hear your Desert Island discs.

Doris Stokes32:20

Thank you for asking me.

Presenter32:21

Goodbye.

Doris Stokes32:22

Bye-bye.

Speaker 132:29

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Islandists Archive. For more podcasts, please visit bbc.co.uk slash radio four.